In his diary Rebmann describes his personal emotions when he discovered the Kilimanjaro:
diary page 47:
May, 11. At daybrake we left. When we had walked for about half an hour, we saw right from us 2 people who ran away when they saw us. Bana Cheri wanted to shoot with the shotgun. But the Teitas, who thought that the refugees were compatriots, refused him to do that and ran after them, but they couldn't catch up with them. Northeastern we saw a mountain, about 2 day trips away, that's called Ongotia and that should belong already to Ukamba land. After another half an hour we arrived in a desert where again more gras grew
diary page 48:
and where it therefor was harder to walk, particulary as we had not one small foot path. The normal way goes along Daffeta (e.d.: nowadays Taveta, a market place in Kenya at the border to Tanzania), where my guide didn't want to go because he was in quarrels with the king of that country. This morning we saw the mountains of Dschagga clearer and clearer, until I thought at about 10 am that I see on on the top of one of them a noticeable white clowd. My guide confirmed me first in my opinion - if he wanted to hide the truth from me or if in fact in that moment a white cloud floated around the mountain, I didn't know. When we had walked a bit more, I noticed again the white and I asked my guide again, if that there really could be a white clowd. While he answered, this would be a clowd, but he wouldn't know what the white is - he assumed it would be cold - I got obvious and sure that it can't be anything else than snow, for which the people have no name, because it never falls in this region. All the strange stories about an inaccessible, from bad ghosts inhabited mountain with gold and silver in the inner, that I had heard often with Dr. Krapf at the cost since I had arrived, were now suddenly clear
diary page 49:
Of course, that the unusual cold forced the half naked visitors of the snow mountain to go back, or when they had to continue by order of the despotically Dschagga king until their body wasn't totally got numb, them really killed, what then out of ignorance was put the blame on the bad ghosts. I tried to explain the circumstances to my people, but they seemed not really want to believe me. When we rested, I read psalm 111 in the english Bible, to which I came in the ordering. The psalm made double the impression on me, at the sight of the wonderful snow mountain so close to the equator, especially verse 6, that particularly and clear said that, what I only faint suspected and felt.
In N.W. we saw again another large mountain from Ukamba land, that was named Kikumbulu.
At noontime some of my people saw again some rhinos. My short face (e.d. bad eyesight) caused huge fuss, because, to see them, I continued walking, while my people let me stand still. Because of my words that I first wanted to see the animals, they shouted more that I should go back. They seemed to be very worried about me, that nothing bad will happen to me.